Mr Monk and the Phone Cord
by monkaholic
Summary: The mayor claims an innocent man is accused of murder
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

A short woman with long black hair all dressed in black was dragging the lifeless body of a man into what appears to be the study of an extravagant mansion.  She pulled out a phone cord from her jacket and tied it around the man's neck.  She pulled it real tight so that there was bruising on his skin in the shape of the phone chord.  She then calmly walked out of the study and out the front door to her car and drove away like nothing had happened.  The next morning, the victim's youngest brother Mark found the body and called the police.

            Adrian Monk was sitting on his bed with every pair of shoes he owned perfectly aligned with each other laying on a table in front of him.  He had one shoe on his left hand and he was polishing it with his other hand.  He felt that his shoes were in dire need of getting a shoeshine.  All of a sudden Monk's front door flew open and Sharona Fleming came storming through.

            "Adrian, where are you?" she shouted.

            "I'm…I'm in here, in my bedroom."

            "What were you thinking when you barged in on my date with Ryan last night?"

            "Well, I was thinking 'is Sharona okay?'  You stopped answering your phone after the first time I called, so I had to make sure that you were all right."

            "Adrian, you called me because you got pepper up your nose!  I told you to only call if it was an emergency!"

            "That WAS an emergency," Monk shouted.  "I could have suffocated.  Death by pepper.  What a horrible way to die."

            "Monk!  All pepper will make you do is sneeze a few times.  Every time you called I had to check my phone to make sure it wasn't Benjy.  Do you know how rude it is to look at a cell phone while somebody's talking to you?"

            "No, no I don't," Monk said matter-of-factly.

            "Well, it's pretty bad.  He told me that it just wasn't working out, so we should break up.  All because of YOU, Monk!"

            "Mmm… it's all for the best.  I didn't like that guy anyway," Monk said.

            "Oh, oh, well I guess it's okay since you didn't like him.  It doesn't matter that I thought he was great and we might have a future together.  Nope.  Adrian Monk didn't like him, so it's all for the best that he DUMPED ME!"

            Just then the phone rang.  It was the mayor calling to ask Adrian about investigating a murder that happened last night.  It turned out that the police's prime suspect, Julian Sluvay, was an old buddy of his and he just couldn't believe that he could do something like that.  Adrian told Sharona and they were off to the victim's house.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:Monk belongs to the USA Network

Monk and Sharona were in their car.  Monk was badgering Sharona about her driving as usual.  "Slow, slow down.  You're going too fast.  Sharona, there was a stop sign there!"

            "Adrian, it wasn't on our road."

            "That light was red," Monk shouted.

            "I'm making a right turn, Adrian, you don't need to wait for a green light!"         

"Still, I'd like it better if you waited."

 "Do you wanna drive?  I'll pull over right now."

"No, no thanks.  You're doing great," Monk said with an unconvincing smile.                

Monk and Sharona pulled up to a huge mansion.  They went inside to find Captain Stottlemeyer.  Of course, Randy Disher was by his side.

                         "Monk, the victim is Niles Sluvay.  He is the first-born son of multi-billionaire Sam Sluvay.  Sam died a week ago from a heart attack.  In his will, he left this estate and his business to Niles.  If Niles was unable to take over, then Julian Sluvay, Sam's second son, was next in line for the business.  If he couldn't do it, then it goes to his third son, Mark.  Our prime suspect is Julian.  He had the motive," Stottlemeyer explained.  "The body was found with this phone chord tied around the neck. The only thing is, all the phones in this house are cordless."

"So the killer must have brought it with him," Monk said.  "But why would he bring his own phone cord and leave it here for us to find?" 

"I don't know, maybe he was careless," Stottlemeyer said.  

"No…no.  Look at the design of that cord.  It looks like it's from an antique phone.  I've never seen one like that.  Who found the body?" Monk asked.

"Mark Sluvay, Sam's third son," Stottlemeyer replied.

"I'd like to talk to him."

"Go right ahead, he's over there."  Stottlemeyer was pointing to an average-sized, dark-haired man in his late twenties.  He looked very confused from all that was going on.  Monk was trying to get Sharona's attention so that they could talk to Mark together, but she was too busy talking to Disher.

"So, how was your date last night with What's his Name?" Disher asked her.

"Oh, it was going great until ADRIAN showed up.  Then he dumped me," Sharona exclaimed.  Adrian heard this and looked down at the floor, but he was still listening intently to their conversation.

"Well, I think he was pretty stupid to dump you," Disher said sincerely.  "If you want, I could cheer you up with dinner tonight? You know, if you're not busy."  Disher couldn't look her in the eye while he asked her out.  He was afraid she'd say "No."  Monk was waiting to hear Sharona's response, hoping that she'd refuse Disher's offer, but to Monk's dismay, Sharona accepted the invitation.

"I could use some cheering up," she said with a smile.  "Pick me up at 8:00 pm."

Monk decided to go talk to Mark Sluvay himself, since he couldn't pull Sharona away from Disher.  "Hi, Mr. Sluvay, I'm Adrian Monk.  I'd like to ask you a few questions."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

"Were you close to your brother Niles?" Monk asked the very nervous looking Mark Sluvay.

"Well, uh, actually I didn't talk to him much.  There's a fifteen-year age difference between us, so it was like we were from different worlds.  When I started Junior High he had already graduated from college and was the vice president of my dad's company."

"So, then, what was the reason that you came here this morning?"

"Uh…yesterday morning he called me out of the blue and asked me to come breakfast tomorrow.  I asked him 'why' and he just kept saying 'come to breakfast tomorrow.'  So, I finally said 'yes' since he was being so stubborn about it.  Then he said, 'Good.  See you at 7:30.'  That was the last I had heard from him.  I came over this morning and there he was, lying dead on the floor, with that phone cord wrapped around his neck."

"So, you had no idea what Niles wanted to talk to you about?"  Monk asked.

"No, no idea," Mark answered.

"Do you know of anybody in the family who collects antiques?"

"My older brother Julian collects antiques.  I told the police that the cord may have come from one of his phones."

"Okay.  Thank you, Mr. Sluvay."

Monk went back to the body to examine it more closely.  "I don't think he died from strangulation," Monk stated to Stottlemeyer.  "There's no skin under his fingernails.  There are no signs of any type of struggle.  Look at the way he's laying.  It looks like he was dragged here.  There's dirt on his backside, he may have been dragged here from the dining room.  The dining room has hardwood floors.  Also, it looks like his shoe was coming off, his heel is almost completely out of the shoe."

"Yeah, I didn't notice that before.  But I still think that it was Julian Sluvay.  We found a phone in his house that matches this cord, Monk.  We're going to interrogate him once we get back to the station."

The Interrogation

"How can you think that I killed my own brother?" Julian Sluvay cried.  "I loved him.  He took care of me better than our father did.  I would never kill him."

"Where were you last night around 10:30 Mr. Sluvay?" the captain asked.

"I was asleep in bed.  I had a hard day at work, so I went to bed early."

"Can anybody vouch for you that you were in bed?"

"No, my wife was at her book club meeting and the maid had already left."

"Does this phone cord belong to you?" the captain asked while he was holding it up.

"Yes, how did you get that?"

"Don't act like you don't know.  This is the murder weapon!"

"What?  I swear I didn't kill Niles.  We were working on a project together for the Children's Hospital.  He was funding the whole thing.  Why would I kill him?"  Julian said in a very panicked voice.

"Take him away, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir," Disher said.

The captain went into the room that Monk and Sharona had been watching the interrogation from.  "I don't think it was him," Monk told Stottlemeyer.

"Why?" Stottlemeyer asked in an annoyed tone.

"I just don't."

"The evidence is right here Monk!  The case is closed!"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

Author's Note: Thanks for the wonderful reviews.  I appreciate it.

Monk and Sharona were sitting in the car.  "So what do we do now?" Sharona asked.

"Learn more about the brothers.  Let's talk to Julian's wife," Monk responded.

They pulled up to quaint little house on a cottage.  Sharona reached to ring the doorbell.  A middle-aged woman with graying hair answered the door.  She was wearing a maid's uniform and was holding a duster in one hand.  With a British accent she said, "Hello, how may I be of service to you?"

"Hi.  I'm Adrian Monk and this is my assistant Sharona Fleming.  We were wondering if we could ask Catherine Sluvay a few questions."

"Sure, come on in."  The maid took them to the living room and told them to have a seat while she retrieves Mrs. Sluvay.  Sharona sat on the leather couch while Monk wondered around the room.  He noticed that there were several crooked pictures on the wall.  His shoulder started to twitch and he just couldn't help himself.  He went over to the wall and started fiddling with a picture of Catherine and Julian on their wedding day.

"Adrian!  Stop it!  Leave it alone," Sharona exclaimed.

"But, it's crooked," Monk said, looking at her while still fiddling with the picture.  Then the picture fell to the floor, making Monk jump, and his arm hit the picture that had been next to the one that he dropped.  The glass of both frames broke into many pieces.  "Oh, god.  I…I need a vacuum.  Sharona, could you get me a vacuum?"

"Adrian!  I told you to leave it alone.  You never listen to me.  See what happens when you don't listen to me?"  Monk was ignoring Sharona.  He was too focused on the mess on the floor.  He had pulled out a wipe and was picking up the glass piece by piece.

"Leave it," an unfamiliar voice said.  Monk stood up and looked at the woman who had spoken.  "The maid will get it later.  I'm Catherine Sluvay.  What can I do for you?"  Catherine was an average sized woman with dark eyes and long, dark hair to match.

"Yes, hi, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your husband.  Have you ever known Julian to be a violent man?"

"He's usually a very kind man.  He works with various charities to help raise money."  There was a long pause, and then Catherine said, "There was… this one time, we had a fight about something…I can't even remember what it was.  Anyway, things got out of hand and…he smacked me in the face."

"Did you report it to the police?" Sharona asked.

"No, he apologized, so I didn't feel the need to."  Monk couldn't shake the feeling that Mrs. Sluvay was lying about the whole ordeal.  It looked like she was making it up right on the spot.

"What about Niles Sluvay?  Were you close with him?" Monk asked.

"No, I didn't talk to him much.  Neither did Julian."

"When we interrogated Julian this morning, he said that Niles was like a father to him.  He said that they were working on a project together," Monk said.

"Oh, really?  I didn't know that.  Julian never discusses his work with me."

"Where were you last night during the murder?"

"I was at my book club meeting."

Monk gave her a fake smile and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Sluvay.  That's all we need for now."

Monk and Sharona left the room and went snooping around the house.  It seems that all of Julian's phones were modern accept the one that the police had confiscated as evidence.  "Of all the phones in this house, why would he choose the antique phone cord to murder his brother?  It's too obvious.  He would have known that it would link him to the murder.  I think Catherine Sluvay framed her husband."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

Eight o'clock was rolling around.  Sharona had cooked Monk some dinner and then headed home to get ready for her date with Disher.  Monk wasn't too happy about them going out.  He wasn't really sure why.  Disher was a nice enough guy.  He doesn't lie, he wouldn't cheat on Sharona, and he would treat her right.  Yet Monk still had the feeling that Disher wasn't good enough for Sharona.  "At least," he thought, "she's finally going out with a guy who isn't a complete loser."

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Disher took Sharona to the carnival that was in town.  "I thought we were going to dinner," Sharona said.  She was way too overdressed for a carnival.  She started to worry that her new dress might get ruined.

"Oh, we will go to dinner.  I just thought that it's better we come to the carnival before we eat.  That way we don't have to worry about…"

"I know, I know, but why a carnival?"

"Well, you needed cheering up, so here we are.  Oh, look, the target shoot!  I'll, uh, go win you a bear," Disher said with a confident smile.  Sharona rolled her eyes as they walked over to the targets.  Disher hit every single one.

"Wow, I didn't know you were such a sharp shooter.  You won me the biggest bear," Sharona said with a proud smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, I learned how to shoot at the police academy."

"Hey, there's the Ferris wheel, let's go ride on that," Sharona said, pulling on Disher's arm.

"The Ferris wheel?  But that's no fun."  Disher saw Sharona glare at him and with a fake smile he said, "Hey, let's go on the Ferris wheel."

Sharona and Disher took a seat in one of the carriages on the Ferris wheel and the wheel started moving.  Sharona was looking around, enjoying the view and the breeze on her face.  Disher had his head resting on his arm and was looking very bored.  Sharona stared at him for a minute, then gave him a kiss on the cheek.  Disher's face lit up and he looked at her and asked, "What was that for?"

"It's for cheering me up.  Thanks."

Later they went to dinner and had a good time.  Disher took Sharona home and they were at her doorstep.  "Well, who knew that Randy Disher can actually be fun," Sharona said with a playful look.

"I don't know what took you so long to notice," Disher said, smiling and staring into Sharona's beautiful blue eyes.  Disher leaned in for what could have been a very romantic kiss when all of a sudden Sharona's cell phone rang.  Sharona sighed in anger.

"Hello," Sharona answered in an exasperated voice.

"Hi…hello.  It's me Adrian…Monk."

"What do you want Adrian?"

"Um…I, I spilled tomato sauce all over the floor.  It's starting to stain and I'm all out of bleach."

"You sound way too calm for that to have really happened.  Why are you calling me?"

"I wanted to check on you.  How's your date going?"

"Well, it was going perfectly before you called!  Goodbye, Adrian."

Sharona hung up the phone without even waiting for him to say 'Goodbye.'  Monk sat his kitchen table, listening to the dial tone.  He was happy that she was having a good time, but he had this aching feeling in the pit of his stomach.  He dreaded what could become of this first date.  Monk couldn't stand to think about it anymore, so he decided to mop the kitchen floor.

Back at Sharona's doorstep, the romantic moment had been ruined.  They just quickly kissed each other goodnight and Sharona went to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

"So what's going on Adrian?" asked Dr. Kroger.  "You seem more distracted than usual.  Are you working on a case?"

"Yes.  I think I know who did it, but I can't figure out all the details."

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"No."

"How's Sharona?"

Monk looked away from Dr. Kroger and stared out the window.  "She's fine," he said.  "She…seems happy."  He looked back at Dr. Kroger.  "She's gone out on a couple of dates with Randy Disher."

"You don't sound too happy about it.  Do you not like Disher?"

"No, that's not it.  I like him.  He's fine.  He's just not…" Monk was waving his hands, trying to find what he wanted to say.

"He's not what, Adrian?"

"He's not…he's just not the right guy for Sharona."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know.  I just know that she shouldn't be with Disher."

"Adrian, that's for Sharona to decide, not you.  Why must you always find something wrong with Sharona's boyfriends?"

"I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that I'm jealous, but I'm not."

"Then what is it Adrian?"

"I…I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid that Sharona will leave me, like Trudy left me.  I'm afraid that when she falls in love with some guy, she won't have any time for me.  She'll be spending all of her time with someone else, and he'll be like a father to Benjy, so she won't need me to help out with him anymore.  She'll leave me."  Monk looked down at his hands.

"Adrian, Sharona wouldn't leave you.  She cares about you.  But, when she does find someone, who do you think he should be?"

"He should be someone who cares about her, who knows her better than she knows herself, who…loves her more than anything. (under his breath) He should be me."

"What was that last part?" Dr. Kroger asked.

"Oh, nothing, I just said that he should be neat."

"Right.  Okay, our time is up.  I'll see you next week."

"Yeah, I'll see you next week," Monk said as he got up and left the office.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

Author's Note: Thanks for the wonderful reviews. I appreciate it.

Sharona and Monk entered the office of Mark Sluvay. The secretary told them that Mark had been detained and would arrive shortly, asked them to have a seat at his desk, and left them alone in the office. Monk noticed that the chair behind the desk was turned sideways, so he walked over to it and straightened it out. As he did this, he noticed that all the papers on the desk were out of place and facing every which way. He started "tidying up" and Sharona was begging him to leave the papers alone. Then, Monk picked up a stack of papers and saw something fall out of it onto the floor. He kneeled down to look at, and saw that it was a picture of Mark Sluvay and Catherine, Julian's wife.

"Look at this picture, Sharona, they're kissing."

"Maybe it's just a friendly kiss," Sharona said.

"Have you ever kissed a friend like that?" Just then the door opened and Monk quickly put the picture into his pocket. Mark Sluvay greeted Monk and Sharona and asked how he could be of help. "Mr. Sluvay, how well do you know Catherine Sluvay? Are you close with her?"

"Um, well, no, n-not really."

"Is that so? This picture says you're lying," Monk said while holding up the picture that he had had in his pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Mark asked angrily.

"It's not important. What's important is that you and your brother's wife were having an affair."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It's got lots to do with everything. I'm 85 to 90% sure that Julian's wife killed Niles Sluvay, and you're the one who just happened to find the body."

"What? That's absurd. Why would Catherine kill Niles?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me."

"Look, Mr. Monk, Catherine didn't do anything. She barely even knew him. And like I said before, Niles asked me to breakfast, so I went. I know absolutely nothing about the murder of my brother."

"I think you do."

"I think it's time for you to leave, Mr. Monk," Mark said in a threatening manner.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

Author's Note: Thanks for the wonderful reviews.  I appreciate it.

They left Mark's office and headed to Sharona's house.  They were sitting at her kitchen table with Benjy thinking about the case.  "So, do you think that Mark Sluvay was involved?" Sharona asked.

"No, I don't think so.  He seemed taken aback when I suggested that Catherine murdered Niles.  She must have done it alone, but how?  Niles could have easily fought her off.  She's too short to strangle a six foot tall man and not have a struggle."

Sharona's phone started ringing, and she walked over and picked it up.  "Hello," she said.

"Yeah, hi Sharona, is Monk there?" Captain Stottlemeyer asked.

"Yes, here he is," she said as she handed Monk the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Monk, the autopsy of Niles Sluvay came back.  It says that there were traces of poison in his stomach, but he also has all the signs of strangulation."

"Really.  That's interesting.  Thanks, Captain," Adrian said and hung up the phone.  "Poison.  Why would she..."

"Hey, Mr. Monk, check this out.  Mr. Disher gave it to me."  Benjy was holding up a hand held tape recorder.  "Say something, Mr. Monk."

"What-what should I say?"

"Anything.  Just say something," Benjy said as he pushed record.

"Hello.  This is Adrian Monk speaking."

"Awesome.  Now listen.  It'll play back what you said in a bunch of different voices."  Monk's voice was played in slow motion, and then Benjy changed it so that it went really fast, making him sound like a chipmunk.  "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Wait," Monk said.  His eyes opened wide and he had a huge smile.

"You know how she did it, don't you?"

Monk nodded his head, still smiling.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Monk belongs to the USA Network

Author's Note: Thanks for the wonderful reviews. I appreciate it. It's been fun writing this story. I hope you enjoyed it.

Monk and Sharona arrived at Catherine Sluvay's house along with the San Francisco police department and Mark Sluvay.

"What's going on?" Catherine asked.

"You're under arrest Mrs. Sluvay," the Captain said.

"For what?" she asked innocently.

"I think you know what," Monk said. "Here's what happened. You knew that Niles was inheriting the multi-billion dollar empire that Sam Sluvay had built. You also knew that if he was unable to takeover, then the business would go to your husband, Julian. But that wasn't what made you kill Niles, was it. He had found out that you and Mark were having an affair. He called and asked you if you would come to dinner, alone. You weren't close with Niles, so you suspected that he had found out about the affair, and was going to confront you. That night, you told everyone that you were going to your book club meeting, and you left early, but the members of the club don't recall you arriving until an hour after the meeting had started. You went to Niles' house, he threatened to tell Julian, and you went into the kitchen when you thought nobody was around, and poisoned his dinner. The dinners had already been dished out, because the cook had left for the evening, or at least you thought she had. I had a talk with the cook. It turns out that she had left her car keys in the house, and when she went to retrieve them, she saw you fiddling around with the food. She didn't think anything of it at the time, so she left without saying anything. Then the maid unknowingly served Niles the poisoned dish, and went home. You watched as Niles started slipping into unconsciousness, and made sure he was so weak he couldn't fight you off when you strangled him with Julian's phone cord. You then dragged him into the study, so that no one would even think about the possibility that he had been poisoned before he was strangled."

"That's preposterous!" Mark screamed.

"Is it?" Monk asked. "It turns out that Catherine signed a prenuptial agreement when she married Julian. If she commits adultery then she gets nothing when they get divorced. She killed Niles, and made it look like Julian did it because he had the biggest motive, and this way she has a good reason to divorce Julian without him ever knowing about the affair. Her ultimate plan was to divorce Julian, get her half of the money from their marriage, and marry you, after you become a multi-billionaire. It was a brilliant plan, really. The only problem was, she needed someone to find the body. Niles gave his staff every Sunday off, so there would be no one for at least a day. Catherine took a recording of Niles asking Julian to breakfast, as he often did since they were working on a project together, cut out Julian's voice, and played it over the phone so that you would think Niles was asking you to breakfast. That's why you couldn't get any information out of him as to why he wanted you to come over, he just kept saying the same thing."

Catherine's held together demeanor turned into panic in one instant. "I'm sorry Mark! I did it for you! I did it for us!" Then in one last miserable attempt to explain herself she said, "I did it so we could finally be together…forever." Disher slapped a pair of handcuffs on her and assisted her into the police car.

Monk looked over at Sharona, and was rewarded with a proud smile that was just for him. He smiled back, and for that one small moment, he was totally and utterly happy.

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Monk and Sharona were putting away groceries in his kitchen. "So, how are you and Randy Disher doing?" Monk asked, trying to sound like he was just making small talk.

"Uh…(sigh) we decided to break up."

"Oh, really?" Monk said. He couldn't keep the relief out of his voice, no matter how hard he tried. Unconsciously, his whole body stood up straighter and his face lit up a little. "Why did you break up?"

"I don't know. It just didn't feel right. It was nice for a while, but I just couldn't see a real future with him."

"That's…That's too bad," Monk said, trying to hide his smile.

"Yeah, I can see you're real broken up about it," Sharona said with a sarcastic tone. She sighed, and looked out the window, deep in thought. Monk stood for a moment and watched her. Then she turned and looked at him. "I don't know if I'll ever find the right guy."

Monk looked into her eyes, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Maybe…maybe you already have found him, you just don't know it yet."

Sharona gave him a smile and said, "Yeah, maybe."

THE END


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